The Bermudiana Hotel -- once a vibrant `city' hotel but, for too long, a brooding, near-ruin that dominated Hamilton Harbour -- may finally have been razed to the ground, but the people who worked there are determined that it will not be forgotten.

To this end, a group of former employees have decided to organise a reunion.

This Saturday, a buffet dinner and dance with entertainment by some of the hotel's one-time entertainers, is attracting not only locals, but people from overseas who are flying in to attend the event. Some are former employees and some are former guests, many of whom were regulars, returning to the Bermudiana year after year.

"We are hoping that everyone remotely connected with the hotel -- taxi drivers, shop clerks, musicians, and so on -- will join in this occasion,'' says committee member Percy Paynter who explains that "for some reason'' he has been appointed as spokesman for group organising the party.

The planning team hopes, besides providing an evening of fun, that the enthusiasm for their work in tourism may also help revive interest in and commitment to the tourism industry in general.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell and former Minister Jim Woolridge have both been invited to attend. "Some 300 people were employed there,'' says Mr.

Paynter who joined the hotel staff in 1962 as a bellman and was eventually promoted to head bellman. "I'm now employed as despatch manager for Masters, but I have to say nothing compares with working in a hotel! There was such a good atmosphere between management and workers, we all enjoyed going to work.

We felt we complemented each other because each side respected the other. If we had problems they were usually remedied in-house. I would say that the Bermudiana gave very good service to tourism and I believe that, today, we need more people to take a strong interest in and for workers and management work closely, as I feel we did, to make tourism a success.'' A venue for the reunion presented something of a problem.

"We had thought about holding it in Barr's Park (just below the hotel site), so that we could sit there, looking up at the old site and reminiscing about the past. But, in the end, we decided to hold it at the Belmont as that was our `sister' hotel and quite a few of the Bermudiana staff went on to work there when the Bermudiana closed,'' explains Mr. Paynter.

Together with 12 helpers, he has worked out details for what is hoped will become an annual event within the framework of a formal association.

"We decided on a buffet dinner with entertainment, door prizes and souvenir T-shirts,'' says committee member Ann Simmons who also used to work as a chamber-maid.

"We have worked hard to try and keep costs down,'' says Mr. Paynter. "We asked for some sponsorship but, so far, the response hasn't been great -- although it's been a help.

They were greatly assisted in their search for people connected with the hotel by June Brangman, who worked as a chamber-maid from 1960 (one year after the hotel re-opened after a fire virtually destroyed it in 1958) until its closure in 1989. She has kept a scrapbook on events and people who crossed the Bermudiana stage over the years and is described by Mr. Paynter as the hotel's `historian'.

"I loved it there -- it was a wonderful place to work, no other hotel like it in Bermuda, because we were like one, big happy family,'' she says. "The idea of a reunion came about because it seemed that whenever a few of us got together we'd end up talking about the hotel.'' People are coming from as far apart as London, New York, Atlanta, Boston, the Middle East, and Canada. They include Louis Cavizeal who was managing director of Trust Houses in Bermuda, Arthur Mill, Toby Dillas who is the present tourism director of sales in the US and formerly a manager, Sid Hayden, who used to be a musician in the cocktail bar, with his wife Meg are coming from London, former manager Dieter Moddinger, Garth Pedro, assistant maanger and now the director of tourism in Atlanta, and Holly Powers who has her own travel agency in Boston and has arranged for former guests to also attend.

On the local front, former employees who are planning to attend the reunion include Gary Burgess, once the front desk clark at the Bermudiana and now executive manager at Belmont, dining room waiter Edmund Tucker who is now manager of Stonington, Michael Williams who went from the Bermudiana front desk to Pink Beach as managing director, Joyce Bladen Rego, formerly assistant social manager, well known musician Douglas Frith, assistant manager Dennis Wainwright, now restaurant manager at the airport, and photographer Eddie Marshall who today, has his own business -- to name but a few.

The Bermudian Hotel Buffet, Dinner, Dance and Entertainment Reunion will be held at the Belmont Hotel this Saturday, September 20, from 7p.m. to 1 a.m.

Tickets at $25 may be reserved by telephoning Percy Paynter at 236-3342, June Brangman (238-0366), Ann Simmons (235-4885), Mel Dillas at The Captain's Lounge (295-7714), or any other committee members.